Crate for shipping glass



.Aug.23,1960 E. RBUCKQ I 2,950,001"

CRATE FOR SHIPPING GLASS Filed may 13. 1957 24 FIG. 4

. Edward P Buc/ro INVENTOR.

BY ywfim Aug. 23, 1960 E. P. 50cm 2,950,001

CRATE FOR SHIPPING GLASS Filed May 13, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 8 24 F/6I2 86 0 "7* a4 26 24 fa'ward Buc/ro 22 INVENTOR.

z... BY fl zsm 2,950,001 Patented Aug, 23,1960

CRATE FOR SHIPPING GLASS Edward-P. Bucko, 406- must. sw., Great Falls, Mont. FiledMay 13, 1957, Ser. No. 658,842;

6; Claims. (21. 206-1);

This invention relates" to .a crate for the safe, economi-j cal and practical packing, and shipment of glass panels.

'An object of the present invention is to provide means by which to safely ship glass without. the necessity, of fibrous filler, excelsior, etc., the shipping crate being of the'returnabl'e'type'and' having an adjustable clamp insert to support glass panels which vary through a very wide range of sizes. A more specific object of the. present invention is to provide arcturnable glass shipping crate whichinvolves' a container that, is specially fitted with groups of slots in which; to accommodate my new insert within the containen. The insert'is adjustable-to accommodate various sizes ofglassand is constructed oftwo rails, to the lower ends of which there are permanently attached lower corner clamps andJto' the. upper ends of which there. are adjustablecornerclamps, the adjustably attached clamps beingcapable of; being moved through a" wide range of elevationsin their rails: All of the clamps are made with inwardly opening pockets with soft; material therein to provide for a yielding, flexible bearing surface against which the glass panel'abuts. In view of' thevarious slots,

the rails are capable of" being adjusted inward and outward with respect to each other to. accommodate various glass dimensions.

Although it is conceivable that av shipping crate in accordancewith my invention maybea. disposableitem, it

is, the present intention to have they shipping craterfunction, as. a returnable device, and therefore it may: be'constructed; strongly and with good material's. Additionally high quality adjustment meansare used; with the. clamps and the same holds true for the means to separahly support the pair of rails in the container.

These together with other objects and advantages which Will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shipping crate constructed in accordance with the invention, the crate being shown in readiment for transportation;

Figure 2 is an enlarged, sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an irregular sectional view taken approximately on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view taken on the hne 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is an enlarged, sectional view taken approximately on the line 5-5 of Figure 3; and

Figure 6 is an exploded, perspective view of one of the rails, the two clamps that are supported by the rails, the means for attaching the rail in place Within the opposite walls of the container, together with fragment of a glass panel that is adapted to be fitted between the two spaced clamps on the rail.

In the accompanying drawings there is a shipping crate 10 which is constructed in accordance with the invention.

Thisvshippingcrate has front and back panels 12 and 14 respectively andfour side walls 16, 18, 20 and 22'respectively. Wall 18has a plurality of parallel, downwardly opening, transverse slots 24 extending therethrough and opening through the front and rear faces thereof. In addition,,there is a group of longitudinal slots 261' which intersect slots 24. and' which open downwardly toward wa1l22; The intersecting slots 24'. and26' are duplicated in the wall: 22; There is a group of slots 28-which are parallel to and which correspond with slots 2.4, together with a plurality of. longitudinal slots 30' which intersect slots 281andwhich oppose slots 26in.wall 18.

The glass panel 32 isarigidly supported within container 10 in such manner that it is protected from shocks and jars. Panel 32' is but one example of a very large variety of sizes ofglass panels which are capable of being accommodated in container 10. Toy accomplish this, there. is a pair of rails 34 and 36' respectively, each rail being of. channel section andhaving a plurality of slots 38' in the inner wall of'each. Clamps 40 and 42 are rigidly attached to. rails 34' and 36' near the lowerex-. trernities thereof. The clamps have inwardly opening pockets inasmuch. as they are each formed of a pair of parallel'walls as at 44 and 46, together with. a bottom connecting wall 48; The clamps in cross section are generally. U-shaped and have the edges angulated. The lower surface of. clamp 40 has a tongue 50 which depends therefrom. The lower end of rail. 34 has a shoe 52 formed thereon by attaching the.clamp to the rail a slight distance from the extremetend thereof; The projecting portion of the. rail. constitutes a shoe and is of a dimen sion to fit snugly withina selected one-of the slots 28. A flexible liner 54' is disposed within. the pockets of the clamps and forms a yielding surfaceon which to support the" edges of glass panel 32. TongueSO is of" such a dimension that it fits. snugly and neatlywithin a selected one of. the longitudinal slots 30, these being shallower than transverse slots. 28.

The upper, adjustable clamps 58 andv 60 on. rails 34 and 36' are. shaped quite similar to the lower clamps 40 and 42; For example, clamp 58' is made of. a pair of parallel side walls 64andl66 thatare connected by wall 68 to form a. downwardly opening glass corner accommodating pocket. Walls 66and'a64 are identical to walls 44' and 46- of' clamp 40'. However, clamp 58 has a threaded stud 70"protruding from the side edge thereof and a wing nut 72 is adapted to be threaded thereon. Stud 70 is passed through a selected slot 38, thereby roughly positioning clamp 58. Fine adjustment is made by sliding the clamp 58 vertically to the desired position before tightening wing nut 72 securely. The padding or cushion 74 within the pocket of clamp 58 assures-that the glass panel 32 will not crack when the clamp is brought very firmly into place thereon.

The means for anchoring the upper end of rail 34 to the wall 18 of the container are dissimilar to the corresponding means for the lower end of rail 34. There is an upwardly opening notch in the back wall of rail 34 and a pair of holes 81 and 82 in the side walls of the rail. Keeper 84 in the form of a centrally apertured plate is adapted to be seated in notch 80, with the outer edge thereof fitted Within a selected one of the longitudinal slots 26. Cotter key 86 or the like is passed through the aligned holes 81 and 82 in rail 34 and hole 87 in keeper 84. The holes 81 and 82 are so spaced from the upper end of rail 34 and the hole 87 is so located in keeper 84 that the upper edge of the keeper 84 is'located below the upper extremity 90 of rail 34. Accordingly, the upper extremity 90 of the rail functions as a shoe, inasmuch as it fits within a selected one of the transverse slots 24 and may he slid to the selected, adjusted position therein.

In assembly, the tongues are placed in the desired selected longitudinal slot while having the whole assembly tilted at an angle so that the upper part of the as sembly is on the outside of the crate. The keeper 84 would be removed from the rails 34 and 36 until tongues 50 are in horizontal groove 30 and the upper ends of the rails are properly positioned in the transverse slots 24. The top is left off the crate (Figure 2) and after assembling all the different size of. glass and their rails in the bottom 22 and placing the keepers in notches 80 after the rails are in the transverse grooves, the top 18 is fastened on the crate. It is understood that the illustrated crate is capable of holding five glass panels, but that the shipping crate may be made larger or smaller without departing from the invention. Moreover, various alterations may be made herein without departing from the following claims. For example, handles 94 and 95 made of rope or of any other material and configuration may be attached to opposing side walls of the container 10. Such modifications as using lock washers or reversing parts or making simple substitutions may be resorted to.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A shipping crate for one or more various dimension glass panels, said crate adapted to be packed and shipped to a destination at which it is unpacked and returned, said crate comprising a container which has side walls, two opposing side walls each constructed with a plurality of transverse slots and a plurality of longitudinal slots which intersect said transverse slots, a pair of rails, said transverse slots being deeper than said longitudinal slots and capable of receiving the ends of said rails sliding into the open ends of said transverse slots, lower corner clamps secured to said rails in which to accommodate the lower corners of a glass panel. upper corner clamps, means adjustably securing said upper corner clamps to said rails, and keepers secured to said rails and engageable with the slots in one of said walls.

2. A returnable shipping crate for one or more glass panels of various dimensions, said crate comprising a container which has side walls, two opposing side walls each constructed with a plurality of transverse slots and a plurality of longitudinal slots which intersect said transverse slots, the transverse slots being deeper than said longitudinal slots, a pair of rails disposed in selected transverse slots capable of receiving the ends of said rails sliding into the open ends of said transverse slots, lower corner clamps secured to said rails in which to accommodate the lower corners of each glass panel, upper corner clamps, means adjnstably securing said upper corner clamps to said rails to accommodate glass panels of any size, and each of said clamps having cushions therein and being composed of a pair of spaced parallel walls with connecting walls.

3. A shipping crate for a glass panel, said crate comprising a container which has side walls, two opposing side walls each constructed with a plurality of transverse slots and a plurality of longitudinal slots which intersect said transverse slots, the transverse slots being deeper than said longitudinal slots, a pair of rails disposed in selected transverse slots and capable of sliding into the open ends of said transverse slots, lower corner clamps secured to said rails in which to accommodate the lower corners of a glass panel, upper corner clamps, means adjustably securing said upper corner clamps to said rails, tongues depending from said lower clamps and fitted within one of said longitudinal slots of one wall, each rail having an upwardly opening notch therein, and means including a keeper passed through said notches and fitted in the longitudinal slots of the opposite container wall to aid in holding said rails in the selected, adjusted position.

4. The crate of claim 3 wherein each rail is of channel shaped section, with said adjustable clamps being fitted at least in part between the sides thereof, the inner wall of each rail having a plurality of apertures, said upper corner clamps securing means including threaded members passed through said apertures in said rails.

5. In a shipping crate which has side walls, structural means by which to clamp onto a glass panel, the improvement comprising; a group of transverse slots in a first of said walls, a group of transverse slots aligned with the first mentioned transverse slots and in an opposite wall, all of said slots opening through opposed faces of said walls to provide entrances in which said means are fitted, longitudinal slots in said first and opposed walls and intersecting said transverse slots, and additional means engaged with said structural means retaining said structural means by fitting within said longitudinal slots.

6. The shipping crate of claim 5 wherein certain of said slots are deeper than other of said slots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 237,406 Parkhurst Feb. 3, 1881 258,635 Elliott May 30, 1882 888,855 Sisco May 26, 1908 1,004,162 Le Guisquet Sept. 26, 1911 2,618,905 Dicks et a1 Nov. 25, 1952 

